Immersion is key to learning at Su Escuela Language Academy in Hingham

Saturday

Jun 14, 2014 at 8:00 AM

Su Escuela means, simply, “Your School”, and Baldeon named it that way to pattern after these small village schools of her homeland. “In those schools, the children will go to learn something new. Su Escuela is a place where this community is going to learn something new. We are a pioneer,” Baldeon said.

Glenda Garland

In parts of Chile, small communities often have miles between them. Sometimes one community will build a school and fly the Chilean flag atop it. “Then, if the people see the flag, they knew it was a safe place to learn,” said Sandra Baldeon, who founded Su Escuela Language Academy in Hingham. Su Escuela means, simply, “Your School”, and Baldeon named it that way to pattern after these small village schools of her homeland. “In those schools, the children will go to learn something new. Su Escuela is a place where this community is going to learn something new. We are a pioneer,” Baldeon said.

That something new is a school based on language immersion for children as young as 15 months old. While a couple immersion programs exist in Milton, Su Escuela is the only one here on the South Shore. This year, the school celebrates its 10-year anniversary.

Baldeon started her school as a tutoring program in Cohasset. “I had friends who said ‘I wish I could know Spanish,’ because they see the benefits of knowing another language for business success.”

Baldeon’s first student was the son of a woman who worked in finance in New York, and who knew the demand for language skills in an increasingly global business environment. Baldeon said that there is also a big demand for doctors who speak another language. “I have a student now. He is in kindergarten, and he says he will grow up to be two doctors, one in English, and one in Spanish.

“Parents see it’s so much easier to learn now. They think giving their children another language is a gift they’re going to have forever,” Baldeon said.

The demand from parents for more language classes and to include more children was what motivated Baldeon to expand. Now Su Escuela continues from those 15-month-olds through two levels of pre-school — one for those who commit to a more structured schedule, and those who chose less time there — and into second grade. Three years ago the school outgrew its space, and in 2011 moved into a new one near Route 3A, by the Bank of America and Bridges by EPOCH.

“Most of my families are from Hingham,” Baldeon said. “It made sense to move here.” The present space will allow room to open a classroom for nine-month-olds as well as add grades to grow with the current second grade students. “I plan to keep adding grades to eighth grade,” Baldeon said. “Then they’ll have the three languages.” Those are English, Spanish, and Chinese. “After that, after being here, children would be able to go anywhere.”

Some research suggests that being bilingual improves flexibility and comprehension with language overall. According to Janine Sucheski, Su Escuela’s marketing director, all their second graders are testing well above grade level in reading and math.

Baldeon feels that immersion, and immersion at a young age, gives children the best chance to internalize other languages. “Immersion is the key,” she said, explaining that for most people, not needing to communicate in another language means you use the one that’s easier for you. “For your child, when he comes here, it’s like he’s not in the United States anymore.”

In addition to comprehension, Baldeon wants her students to speak their other languages without American accents. She said that learning another language young from a native speaker will let that child acquire a native accent. To that end, she has hired teachers who are native Spanish and Chinese speakers. She found one of her Chinese teachers, for example, taking a master’s in education at Harvard. For that teacher, Harvard was her study abroad. That teacher knew English, but for about 70 percent of Baldeon’s other teachers, coming to teach at Su Escuela is in itself an immersion experience.

“You think that the kids would have trouble understanding them, but they figure it out,” Baldeon said. “An adult would get frustrated and leave if you spoke another language to them for an hour. Not the kids.” Eventually the teachers learn what the child means in English, and the child learns how to ask in Spanish or Chinese. “And,” Baldeon added, “they are not losing the English.”

The school facilitates the immersive experience by having very small class sizes. Between 15 students in first and second grade and nine in kindergarten this year, there were seven teachers. Students move from classroom to classroom for different subjects, and have them in different languages. About 80 percent of the curriculum comprising music, arts, math, and Spanish are taught in Spanish, according to Alexandra Whaley, Director of Admissions. English and history are taught in English, and Chinese comes separately.

She said that sometimes parents worry that they can’t help with homework if they don’t speak Spanish or Chinese. Baldeon tries to address that by having her teachers go over any sticking points with their students, and she believes that having the students work that way promotes independence and responsibility.

To celebrate the school’s tenth year anniversary and build off that independent, pioneering spirit, Baldeon decided not to throw a party. Instead the school has donated a bench that will be installed behind the Hingham Rec Center, on the playground. “A party is great,” Baldeon said, “but I wanted to leave a little footstep of being a pioneer. People think Hingham has no diversity, but if they look at this bench, they can see that Hingham is a pioneer. If a community can accept Su Escuela, it can be diverse.”